The Ragan Corporate Communicators Conference in Detroit (May 4-7) was festival of presentations on Social Media, Speechwriting, Corporate and Internal Communications. Over 250 attended the event held at the General Motors Headquarters in the downtown Renaissance Center and hosted by GM.

Attendees generated over 900 tweets under the hashtag #ragangm. Since Twitter only maintains 10-14 days of content live they will soon disappear. Here’s the archive all of them.

I curated a list of the most interesting 108 tweets,adding links where appropriate for easy reference.

1. Use Camtasia Studio to create audio “screen-casts” of apps – embed in departmental websites as training aids. Create animated preso library.
2. Internal comms compete w/lots of entertaining options for employee mindshare. Videos & Photos need to be quality & entertain to compete w/Rolling Stone & People Magazine.
3. Every internal web page should have star rating system and allow comments.
4. When developing messages for employees, ask the question “What does this have to do with the key audience how does it speak to their concerns?” WIIFM at two levels for employees: 1) What does it have to do w/ me? 2) How does changing my behavior make my life better?
5. Three steps to changing employee behavior: 1) Handle comms logistics – content, design, 2) capture employee attention and 3) do be relevant. Result = change behavior.
6. Comms is responsible for simplifying complexity of business – diagram things.
7. We can no longer have internal comms messages targeted to everyone – the branch office does not see things same way HQ staff do. Gen Y workers diff. from Baby Boomers.
8. Every communicator (esp. long-timers) eventually stops communicating 4 their audience and starts communicating 4 their boss. Do whatever it takes to avoid this. Bonus be damned!
9. 3rd party media training is often more effective. Execs seem more receptive and less defensive/dismissive about their advice. Hire an outside coach for faster results.
10. People now have now gone from having ADD to ADOS – Attention Deficit … Ooh Shiney!
11. Executives need to understand Gen Y. “Connect with the coming tidal wave.” Try reverse mentoring, people!
12. Irrelevant information is not benign. Limited reader attn means messages must be focused on benefits or risk losing readers.
13. Write for the range of target audience that has least understanding of your topic. Duh!
14. 89% of journalists say they turn to blogs for story research. Lazy or smart?
15. 78% of people trust recs of other consumers; 14% trust ads. This is why social media is so important. Who do you trust?
16. 62% of employees who tweet, tweet from work.
17. 66% of employers have monitored employees’ internet use; 1/3 of companies have fired someone (mostly for visiting wrong websites).
18. Make sure to integrate comms channels with each other. Example given: The Petco Scoop blog.
19. Wildfire has a fun ways – sweepstakes, contests and give-aways – to engage SM audiences.
20. Ideal number of words in a graf before losing reader attention: 42.
21. Listening is the most important thing you can do on Twitter – check out http://search.twitter.com/ and http://www.socialoomph.com/
22. Speechwriter Rob Friedman: Eli Lilly’s main purpose is to show “the value of pharmaceuticals” – ask: what is it for your company?
23. “A speechwriter is a playwright for the client – script them well”
24. Era of destination website is over – archival ‘.com’ sites being replaced by social media.
25. 68% of online content read by Millennial’s is created by someone they know personally.
26. Check out cool tool PubSubHubBub.
27. Real-time search engines can tell u the sentiment & reactions to ur org’s news. Look at http://socialmention.com/
28. Twitter is not a personal communication tool. It’s a news distribution service.
29. AT&T uses Twitter Ambassadors found those already on Twitter and take that passion to help your brand in a real way.
30. Write tweets in ways that add value to the reader to aid optimization.
31. Augmented reality is the next big thing. @shelholtz: “It’s going to be huge.”
32. Are u using http://www.evernote.com/ – It will change ur life.
33. Polleverywhere – Cool live polling technology. Used my phone to txt a vote and watched live results on the screen!
34. General Motors: Changing the public’s perception 1 customer at a time. Personal correspondence with GM execs. Actively seek unhappy customers.
35. Re finding/responding to online complaints, “It costs less…than finding a new customer,” Says GM’s Susan Docherty.
36. SM lessons learned by GM: Don’t be boring, don’t over-promote, cut the hyperbole, respond to people w/real people.
37. Social media “policy” for employees: if you can’t say it at your daughter’s bday party, shouldn’t say it online.
38. “Stop treating customers like a one-night stand,” GM CMO Susan Docherty. Great advice for all companies!
39. “Emerging” media is now traditional media. GM had 8-fold increase in digital media spending since 2001.
40. In communications, if you start with the consumer, you will do the right thing.
41. Qumu – great option for internal communications webcasting: Ragan Conference using them.
42. GM has “social club,” informal, regular meetings of those from all depts w social media responsibilities.
43. Remember you (your comp. or org) are a publisher and you compete with media outlets.
44. PR & Marketing need to have a ‘”happy marriage.” Audiences can’t tell the diff between the two. They just see you.
45. GM lets employees spend worktime in Twitter & Facebook so they can interact w/customers, which is now part of everybody’s job.
46. Viral is a phenomenon, not a strategy…absolutely true.
47. Any GM employee can tweet about the company, says @maryhenige. Co keeps them advised of rules, links them to info & asks them to be smart.
48. In the end – just provide value. Don’t lead w/your messages; community’s needs come first.
49. On Social Media…don’t be a brand, be human.
50. 70% of successful outcome depends on how well you communicate. The last thing u want is 4 execs to be hiding behind their desks.
51. “SM is like having a kid – you can’t just leave them when they’re done being cute.”
52. Writers are ditch diggers. Can’t wait for a muse. Get your ass back in there and DIG!
53. Any speech longer than 20 minutes is too long. If they want longer. Tell them you’ll speak for 20, QA for the rest.
54. How to determine speech length? 100 words = 1 minute is good benchmark. Anyone speaking faster than that needs to SLOW DOWN, pause for audience to absorb message.
55. Speechwriters: Make 3-4 big points. No more. Get them from the principal in ur 1st mtg, or they’ll throw ur 1st draft out.
56. Get a 2nd monitor for your computer (to monitor Twitter).
57. Use flickr to spark yr creativity.
58. Use flip cams for fast ‘scrappy’ videos (caveat: content must be good).
59. Greatest gift of YouTube culture: low expectation for video quality. BUT compelling content + authenticity is extremely high.
60. Using humor in Corp comm is not always a fireable offense.
61. Keeping it real: Bullfighter: – eliminate jargon & b.s. in your documents.
62. Hire a presentation/speech coach to help ur executives improve. Not overnight, but 3-4 months.
63. Use http://bit.ly to shorten URLs and track clicks.
64. Stay current: Read http://mashable.com/
65. Do a short 2 sentence interview with multiple ppl and mash together for a good video on a single topic. Example: http://bit.ly/aqzoCd
66. Create a presentation homepage for upcoming events, preview videos, outline, slideshare, ask for comments. Example: http://bit.ly/aWBAow
67. Flip camera tips: Clean the office behind you; use a desk light to highlight face; watch for b/g noise; bump sound with Windows Movie maker post-production.
68. Keep your language conversational. Test your writing by reading out loud as if you were talking to someone in an elevator.
69. Writers: Get rid of passive sentences; capture the essence of your press release in a Tweet.
70. Stop blocking social media from ur employees. Train them and empower them.
71. Spice up internal comms: Roving reporters and employee film fests: uncovering talent in ur organization.
72. “Who died & put IT in charge of employee productivity?” @shelholtz
73. Amplify employee voices thru low-cost podcasting. Can listen at user convenience, develops trust and community. And cheap to produce.
74. Journalism graduates today are trained to shoot, edit, and publicize. Get a dedicated staff member to focus on video.
75. @MarkRaganCEO on why authenticity matters: “We live in the age of bullshit.”
76. Useful podcasting tools: Wavepad, Camtasia Studio, Audacity, Levelator.
77. On podcasting…the tool is not the message.
78. Podcast Production Lessons: Cozy up to your radio. Get comfortable with being seen & heard. Prepare, prepare, prepare.
79. Podcasters: Think like a marketer. Create full campaign. Don’t 4get your global audience. Measure every podcast.
80. Podcasters: Your leaders make for great content. Look for your influencers. Let employees be the interviewers sometimes.
81. Internal Podcasts: You’ve got experts in your community. Help them tell their stories. Find the moment when the mike goes away.
82. Podcasts complement crisis communications. Can quickly be on the scene or respond to rumors. Easily done over the phone.
83. Time length for videos is controversial. Brevity important in most cases. 90 secs or less. BUT if it’s good, ppl will watch longer.
84. Executive communications is like a high wire act…eventually something will go wrong.
85. Public Speakers: Common mistake – spending more time on slides than on delivery. Dry runs are important.
86. Public Speakers: Conversational tone in a large audience doesn’t always work. Stage presence is important.
87. Speechwriters: Beware of tongue twisters. “Red Buick, Blue Buick”.
88. Speechwriters: Prep your exec in case their time gets cut. Provide a 60-30-15 minute version of the speech as a contingency.
89. Understand Cultural Sensitivity/Diversity issues: Resource: Culture Crossing – Beware of culturally-specific analogies (e.g. Sports US= “4th down”; UK= “batting on a sticky wicket”).
90. Think about mic’ing your exec when they present so u can re-purpose their speech/audio for other things (website, podcast, transcript, etc.)
91. “Opportunities multiply as they are seized”- Sun Tzu. Especially true for the internet.
92. @aribadler suggested we’ve moved from work-life balance to work-life blend.
93. Avoid extended online debates with ppl who disagree with a message.
94. 28 Best Praactices for virtual presentations, WebEx sessions: www.whatworks.biz
95. Best way to brief ur exec? Know them, their style. Personalize ur approach and style.
96. If your employees love what they do, make them ambassadors.
97. Pre-flight checklist for exec-comms events available as .doc source: http://bit.ly/bzzoTh
98. Blogs must be authentic. Don’t ghost write your CEO’s. Ppl expect authenticity. If they can’t write it, look for something else.
99. If ur CEO is a bad writer but a good speaker: have him dictate it + ur comm staff can transcribe to the blog.
100. Comm cascade often fails. Focus on interpretation + location! Help staff take the message, interpret, + pass it on accurately.
101. Branding: Detroit is considered “gritty”. Baby Boomers equate that to dirty. Gen X define it as “authentic”. Detroit’s brand position: Detroit is where cool comes from.
102. Ask your agency to pitch ideas they don’t think you’ll approve. Creativity will flow.
103. Whether it’s online or in print. If you don’t know if people are reading it, why are you doing it?
104. Interviewing tip: Don’t be afraid to go where your answer leads you and not where your question sent you.
105. Complaints are inevitable in any biz. Look at them as opportunities to showcase problem solving and communication skills.
106. Comms must compete for your employees’ attention – Paying employees gets them in the door, but that doesn’t engage and motivate them.
107. Measure communications by business goals/objectives.
108. Consider Prezzi.com instead of PPT: Animated visuals are dynamic and impressive. As shown in @shelhotz closing keynote.

Vickie Sullivan is internationally recognized as a top market strategist for experts. Specializing in branding for high-fee professional speaker markets, she has launched thousands of thought leaders since 1987. Vickie’s groundbreaking work has earned her an appointment on the Women’s Leadership Board for the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. In that capacity, she presented three times to the Harvard student body on personal branding and prominence.

On Saturday she presented to a somewhat less august institution than Harvard. She rocked the house at the meeting of the Northern California Chapter of the National Speakers Association. Her presentation, Brand It And They Will Come: Build a High-Fee Brand When You Are Not Famous, was short on fluff and long on street-wise detail to help the average $1,000 – $5,000 speaker in the audience stand out from the crowd.

An era of practicality

With meeting expenditure down, even as the number of meetings are trending higher, clients are doing more with less. Unlike the go-go days of the boom period, we are now living in an era of practicality. Executives are micromanaging meetings down to the level of choosing the theme and seating arrangements. They are sending interns to do first-round interviews with prospective speakers. Many speakers are not only competing with each other for gigs, they are competing with the authors, bloggers and social media mavens who will speak for free in order to pimp their books and consulting programs.

So what’s a novice speaker to do?

First, lose the obsession with presentation skills. Being able to present well is table stakes. Next, realize meeting organizers divide the world into speakers who are nice to have and those they gotta have. In order to fall into the latter camp the information you offer has to overlap with the buyers perceived needs and beat out the other options being considered for the meeting agenda. You have to stand out from the crowd by uniquely branding yourself. Getting hired requires you create a vivid picture in the client’s mind of what they will get when you speak at their event. Craft your brand in a way that appeals to the buyers emotions and creates an image of you in a category of one. Vicki goes into more detail on the importance of differentiation in this Special Report on her website:

If branding is the promise you make to the market, then differentiation is the stage you use to deliver on your promise.

The Three Keys to a High-Fee Brand

One: A Successful Story

Your compelling story is only useful to the extent it teaches others. Sports hero’s have a problem on the speaking circuit if their motivational stories don’t connect with the couch potatoes in the audience. We can connect with the audience by telling stories that break with the expected and bring opposites into play, compare unexpected things or roles or reveal a Eureka moment. Vickie’s website has an article on writing Stories That Create The Emotional Drive To Buy.

Two: A Point of View

Build a point of view around hot issues. Focus on a Big Idea. Make the invisible visible. Tell people things they’ve not heard before. Three options that help build a unique point of view:

1. Predict the Future – what can we expect that will impact the audience’s world in unexpected ways? In my world, I’m seeing a growing backchannel of communication using PDA’s and social media to converse about the speaker while they are still onstage.
2. Sound the Alarm – what does the audience need to know that will save their skins? Again, in my own world, too much information is being crammed into presentations by subject matter experts. Someone else in the audience today shared how middle managers in Silicon Valley technology companies are addicted to the corporate crack of repeatedly launching projects to boost their career without realizing they are burning everyone out with their 7×24 demands. She realized she could develop a compelling point of view by sounding the alarm about this destructive behavior.
3. Call The Game – what are people doing that’s having an impact they don’t understand? In the corporate world it’s often the belief that 33 PowerPoint slides are needed where three would be more effective at getting the message across. I can call the game by showing presenters how they can speak less and say more.

Three: Compelling Content

Vickie writes that compelling content creates constant curiosity:

Curiosity is our radar system. It gives us early warning to change and opens the door for innovation. All of us use this emotion to be inventive and fulfilled. The media and the marketplace use curiosity to search for the latest thinking, a fresh perspective that jumpstarts conversations and originality. Help your market get what they don’t have, and watch buyers run to you to learn more.

Softly Softly

As dynamic and challenging as we need to be to brand ourselves, Vickie warns against alienating clients. Before you hit them upside the head with frightening predictions or ring the alarm bells, she advises that you start by stating something everyone can agree with. Then focus in and add a unique twist before explaining why you are proposing a credible alternative to the status quo.

Vickie Unplugged

After the event ended, I wanted to hear more from Vickie, so I asked her to explain how the era of practicality impacts speakers and why she believes it’s important that we keep an air of mystery about what we do. To hear what she told me, click on the podcast icon below.

Interview: Vickie Sullivan [ 8:31 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

NSA/NC September Meeting

September marks the start a new year of meetings for the Northern California Chapter of the National Speakers Association (NSA/NC). It kicked off with a “Wealthy Speaker Seminar” conducted by Jane Atkinson, who promised to share a “Proven Formula for Catapulting You To The Top 3%” of the speaking business. Jane reported that top speakers earn over $1 million annually.

Jane has been helping speakers grow their businesses for more than 18 years. As an agent for speakers, she has represented speaking super stars Vince Poscente, Joe Calloway and Peter Legge as well as best-selling authors and celebrities. A former vice president of International Speakers Bureau, Jane has seen the industry from many angles.

The Wealthy Speaker

Jane’s new book, The Wealthy Speaker: The Proven Formula for Building Your Successful Speaking Business details many of the tools she shared in the morning seminar.

These include:

Ready, Aim, Fire: first, get crystal-clear about what your expertise is; then roll out marketing materials that enable customers to find you; finally deliver your expertise to audiences from the podium.

Focus on your speech: “No fancy brochure or website can overcome a mediocre speech.” Tips for creating a powerful speech include:

1. Use humor – once the endorphins kick in, the audience is more receptive to your message.
2. Be real, open and authentic.
3. Be congruent with your message, both on and off the platform.
4. Deliver a focused message with one main idea and three points.
5. Tell great stories – especially ones that are about the audience, not you.

Outline your speech: Pick one theme and a through-line. Would the message of the speech look good printed on a T-shirt? Does it have three main points and a hook to hang it on?

Ask, “Who do I need to become to take my speech to new heights?” It’s all about positioning: become an expert first, a speaker second.

“Clients no longer want to hire speakers. They want to hire smart people who happen to speak.”

Expertise – Topics – Revenue

Jane recommends that we each become an expert in one area we are are passionate about. This is the “lane” we travel in. Don’t get stuck doing things we are merely good at. Find an area of expertise people will pay for. Choose this one area and develop a number of topics around it.

Ask “What do I need to become, to be the expert?” It might be focusing on a topic. It might be standing tall and stepping fully into the knowledge you already have.

In my case, my expertise is helping executives communicate effectively. The topics I’ve developed center on my services as a speechwriter. These services include writing one-time speeches for CEOs as well as company overview or Vision Pitch presentations delivered multiple times in the Executive Briefing Centers of major Silicon Valley companies. More recently, I’ve added topics involving Social Media and re-purposing a speech with podcasting. This allows asychronous communication of the speech outside the room in which it is delivered.

Jane suggests that we build revenue streams which flow from each of our topics. In my case, I have my consulting fees and more recently the recorded webinars, workbooks and clinics ranging in price from $39 – $499 available on Practical Social Networking.

Websites

Jane reminds us that a good website is a key requirement for a successful speaker. One-sheets are so last century. A good website clearly positions you and shares a promise (or brand) that will make the prospect curious about what it is that you offer. She recommended Rene Godefroy’s and Keith Harrell’s as great examples.

Podcast Interview

After the program ended I sat down with Jane and asked her what was the one piece of advice she would share with someone who wanted to become a wealthy speaker and make it into the top 3% of those in the business who make over $1 million a year. To hear what she told me, click on the podcast icon below.

Interview: Jane Atkinson [ 4:05 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Social Media and video offer distinctive and creative ways to differentiate yourself.

Job seekers benefit when they profile their skills and capabilities in ways that go beyond the plain-text resume and cookie-cutter LinkedIn profile. They are heard above the noise of other candidates and promote their value to employers in ways that stand out.

Short, informational videos highlighting skills and experience with contact information and a photo can be embedded in emails to recruiters or tied into Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook postings.

Videos like this one that I produced in conjunction with Grace Hu-Morley, who is an experienced marketing professional who lives in Silicon Valley.

Can you believe Woodstock took place 40 years ago this weekend! To commemorate LIFE teamed up with the MagCloud team to release a Special Edition print on demand Magazine….check it out!

Order your copy for just $9.60 plus shipping.

Great photos of those long-gone daze.

At the recent National Speakers Association (NSA) Convention in Phoenix, AZ I had the opportunity to see Michael Soon Lee, MBA, CSP, give a talk on ways a speaker can re-market their expertise to a new industry.

In his presentation “Shift Your Expertise to a New Industry in Less than a Week!” Michael discusses the expertise speakers need to succeed in a given niche.

He asks the audience to evaluate if the industry they’ve become an expert in has slowed or even disappeared?

Michael then explains how to identify which industries will survive and thrive in this economy and become a leading authority in a new field. Quoting personal experience, he teaches how to quickly transfer your knowledge to a new industry by developing instant credibility, powerful partnerships and high visibility.

An audio recording of the complete presentation can be ordered from the Softconference website.

A small sample of Michael’s advice is shown in the edited highlight video I posted on YouTube (with his express permission).

Debra Russell: giving artists their edge

Last week I attended a presentation given at the Sandbox Suites by Debra Russell. Debra is the founder of Artist’s EDGE. She uses her business knowledge and ability to facilitate change and growth to help small business owners create a prosperous and sustainable living doing what they love. Debra specializes in small business and the Arts and Entertainment Industry and has presented innovative programs for industry trade conferences across the country.

In ‘Niche Marketing’ she discusses why many business owners are afraid to define their niche on the mistaken premise that they will lose business as a result. The truth is just the opposite. Designing your marketing around a niche can enable you to have a major impact on a small budget. Since most business owners are working with a limited to non-existent marketing budget Niche Marketing can give you a tremendous advantage over your competition.

In this video Debra discusses the concept of a niche and how it applies to your business. Specifically:

• The 8 steps of business income
• Finding a niche
• What aspects of a niche to research
• How to use Google and Yahoo Groups to develop a relationship with your niche market
• Best ways to use LinkedIn to connect with a niche
• How to combine Niche marketing with Social Networking to deliver high impact results with a very low investment

Parts of this presentation are based on the book Multiple Streams of Coaching Income by Andrea Lee.